U.S. History 4

1. U.S. History 4/25/05 www.msu.edu/~milewsk6 OBJECTIVE: Examine the growth of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. I. Journal #31 pt.A -Re-read �The United States Steps In� p.732-734 -Answer questions (B) p.732 & (C) p.734 II. Journal #31 pt.B -notes on Kennedy, Johnson, and the Gulf of Tonkin III. Homework due Friday 4/29/05 1.) Read Chapter#22 section #2 p.736-741 -Answer questions (2-5) p.741 2.) Read Chapter#22 section #3 p.742-747 -Answer questions (2-5) p.747

2. The First American Killed Lt. Col. Dewey was killed by Vietnamese soldiers on September 26, 1945. He was there as an OSS officer, the forerunner to the CIA to collect information on the situation in Vietnam. In the decades to follow over 60,000 American lives would be lost in Vietnam.

3. Truman In 1950, President Truman lent massive economic and military support to the French who were fighting to regain control of Vietnam.

4. Why did the U.S. support the French? The U.S. sought to strengthen our ties with France and stop the spread of Communism at the same time. (Remember, in 1949 Vietnam�s neighbor to the North, China became communist) From 1950-1954 the U.S. sent almost $1 Billion to France. We paid for most of the French war effort in dollars. The French paid in lives.

5. Eisenhower When IKE became president in 1953 he continued to aid the French. IKE believed in the Domino Theory. If the nation of Vietnam became communist so would the rest of the nations of SE Asia. He feared that it would continue to spread outside of the region.

6. The End of French Involvement In July 1954, the Geneva Accords divided Vietnam into communist North and capitalist South. This was similar to the division of Korea along the 38th parallel.

7. 1956 Election Ho Chi Minh was extremely popular in the North and this popularity spread into the South. When elections were called for in 1956 to unite the country, the capitalist leader of the south, Ngo Dinh Diem, cancelled the election because it looked like Ho would win.

8. 1956 Election The U.S. supported Diem�s decision. The U.S. offered to provide military training and economic support to Diem in exchange for a stable capitalist regime. Diem was corrupt and oppressed the mostly Buddhist population. This lead to the rise of the Vietcong.

9. The Vietcong They were South Vietnamese Communists. They opposed Diem and assassinated many of his gov�t officials. Ho supported the Vietcong efforts and supplied them with military equipment along a network of jungle paths which became known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The Vietcong were quite successful and IKE decided that if Diem fell, we would leave Vietnam.

10. Kennedy JFK increased financial aid to Diem to counter the belief that Democrats were soft on communism. JFK also increased the number of U.S. military advisors to the unpopular Diem regime.

11. JFK and Vietnam Opposition of Diem increased as he relocated villagers and intensified his attack on Buddhism. It was clear that Diem was a bad leader and the only way to save the South Vietnamese people from turning communist was to eliminate Diem. The U.S. supported a military coup against Diem that resulted in a new regime Against JFK wishes Diem was assassinated. Following Diem�s death, each new gov�t in the south proved to be more unstable than the one that proceeded it. At the same time, the Vietcong�s popularity grew.

12. U.S.S. Maddox On 8/2/1964 a N. Vietnamese patrol boat fired on the U.S.S. Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin. The Maddox returned fire. Two days later the Maddox and another destroyer believed that they were fired upon again.

13. Johnson

14. The Tonkin Gulf Resolution It was not a declaration of war, but it gave the President a great deal power to deal with N. Vietnam Following a Vietcong attack that killed 8 Americans in February of 1965, LBJ launched �Operation Rolling Thunder�, a sustained bombing campaign on N. Vietnam.

15. U.S. History 4/26/05 www.msu.edu/~milewsk6 OBJECTIVE: Examine the conditions faced by American Troops in Vietnam. I. Journal #32 pt.A -Read �The Literature of the Vietnam War� p.762-763 -Answer question #1 p.763 II. Journal #32 pt.B -notes on the conditions in Vietnam III. Homework due Friday 4/29/05 1.) Read Chapter#22 section #2 p.736-741 -Answer questions (2-5) p.741 2.) Read Chapter#22 section #3 p.742-747 -Answer questions (2-5) p.747

16. Escalation of U.S. Forces in Vietnam Most Americans supported the policy of containment, but they were afraid of war with the Soviet Union. Johnson won the 1964 Presidential Election over fears that his opponent, strong anti-communist Barry Goldwater would lead the nation into war with the Soviets. LBJ said he wouldn�t make American boys travel 10,000 miles to do what Asian boys could do themselves. But, in March 1965, LBJ starting sending American boys to Vietnam. 61% of Americans supported this decision. 24% opposed it.

17. Number of Troops Grows By the end of 1965 there were 180,000 American troops in Vietnam. General William Westmoreland was in charge of the troops in Vietnam. He was unimpressed with the South Vietnamese troops and requested more American boys. LBJ fulfilled the General�s request and more troops were sent. In 1967 there were 536,000 American Troops in Vietnam.

18. Fighting in SE Asia

20. Fighting in SE Asia The superior weaponry of the United States had little advantage in a war where you can not see your enemy. Example: North Vietnam didn�t have an Air force, yet anti-aircraft guns hidden in dense jungle made American Aircraft open to surprise attack from the ground. In the South, the Vietcong had home court advantage. They knew the villages, the jungle, and the language and were able to evade American forces. Using home court advantage, the Vietcong would attack and disappear before the American could return fire. Example: Was the guy selling food on the corner a Capitalist or was he a Vietcong spy ready to throw a grenade at a passing U.S. truck?

21. The Weather South Vietnam has a tropical climate. In the summer it hot and wet, 90�s in the day with high humidity) lows in the 80�s with high humidity. The winter is pretty much the same. North Vietnam has a monsoon climate. The Summer is the rainy season which means 6 months of cloud cover. This made it very difficult for the U.S.A.F. to attack targets for half of the year.

22. Westmorland�s Strategy Destroy the enemy by keeping them on the run. He thought by keeping constant pressure on the Vietcong and keeping a running count of the # of Vietcong killed it would weaken their will to fight. Additionally, by winning the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people they would stop supporting the Vietcong. The use of napalm and the toxic chemical defoliant Agent Orange to expose Vietcong tunnels caused wounded civilians, destroyed villages, and killed crops

23. Seek and Destroy U.S. troops uprooted villages suspected of supporting the Vietcong. They were ordered to kill the livestock and destroy the crops. This tactic cause a refugee crisis. Villages fled to the cities. The failure of the U.S. to score a decisive victory against an elusive enemy caused American troop moral to drop. The longer the conflict went on, the lower troop moral went.

24. U.S. History 4/27/05 www.msu.edu/~milewsk6 OBJECTIVE: Examine the images provided by the media of the Vietnam War in the United States. I. Journal #33 Watch: Vietnam: Chronicle of a War -take notes while watching the film II. Homework due Friday 4/29/05 1.) Read Chapter#22 section #2 p.736-741 -Answer questions (2-5) p.741 2.) Read Chapter#22 section #3 p.742-747 -Answer questions (2-5) p.747

25. U.S. History 4/28/05 www.msu.edu/~milewsk6 OBJECTIVE: Examine the reaction to the Vietnam War in the United States. I. Journal #34 pt.A -Re-read �Sinking Morale & Fulfilling a Duty� p.740 -Answer question (D) p.740 II. Journal #34 pt.B -notes on American reactions to the war in Vietnam III. Homework due tomorrow! 1.) Read Chapter#22 section #2 p.736-741 -Answer questions (2-5) p.741 2.) Read Chapter#22 section #3 p.742-747 -Answer questions (2-5) p.747

26. In Washington LBJ thought the war would be won quickly, but as the war continued with no end in sight, LBJ�s Great Society programs began to unravel. The economy suffered as the nation paid for the war. The inflation rate went up. When LBJ asked Congress for more money to fight the war they forced him to cut back on the amount of money being spent on the Great Society programs. In 1967, the political atmosphere in Washington was shifted from fighting the �War on Poverty� at home to fighting Communism in Vietnam.

27. In the Living-Room Each night the TV news brought color images of the war into American homes. The images on the TV seemed to show a less optimistic view of the war than what came from the Johnson Administration. This prompted Congress to investigate the war. The Fulbright hearings didn�t turn up much, but it helped contribute to American�s doubts about the war. By 1967, the nation was dived over the war. The youth of America began to actively protest gaining the attention of the nation and defined a generation.

28. U.S. History 4/29/05 www.msu.edu/~milewsk6 OBJECTIVE: Examine our dependence on technology in the modern world. I. Connections episode #1 -Questions on film by James Burke.